


Knights and Nobles

by Im_only_mildly_ashamed



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, The knight of the kitchen retelling, its very silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-08-23 11:52:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8326843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Im_only_mildly_ashamed/pseuds/Im_only_mildly_ashamed
Summary: Netero runs fairly peaceful, if miraculous kingdom.Then a mysterious and fairly wealthy young man arrives.And asks to work in the kitchens.A year passes, and the boy has earned the kings favor but he uses it help a another mystery find his sister?Something is amiss...





	1. Chapter 1

In the land now called Minbo, there once lived a king.

A wise and fair king named Netero.

And It is said, that everyday he would wait until he had seen something truly amazing before he sat to sup.

And it was on one such day, hot food laid in front of him, that a servant looking out the window finally spoke up.

“You can begin eating your highness, for I am sure this will be amazing.”

Not long after the servant had spoken, the doors to the hall were thrown open and in rode a great caravan of rich silk, camels, and the finest horses.

From the grandest of these steeds, came down a boy.

He was not so small he could be called a child, yet not quite old enough to be a man.

His hair was black with strange green along it’s spiked peaks, and his skin was tanned to a deep brown.

He clambered down from his steed, and bowed before king as low as peasant would.

“I’m sorry for barging in unannounced, your highness!”

Said the boy, twitching nervously.

The king shook his head.

“Come up from the floor, my old bones cannot return the courtesy”

“Ah sorry!”

The boy began to bow again, but panicked.

Several servants began to chuckle behind their palms.

“So what bring such a grand display to my kingdom?”

Asked the king.

The boy smiled nervously and scratched the back of his head as he spoke.

“I was just hoping to earn lodgings for a year, then gain a further boon one year from today.”

The king stroked his beard, and gnawed on a small carrot.

“It’s done easily enough, but whom shall I be hosting?”

“I’m sorry, but I would prefer not to reveal that at this time.”

“Mmmm.”

Mused the king.

“Very well.”

And so it came to be that the mysterious young man worked in kitchens.

The head cook was cruel and vulgar man, who took a quick disliking to this boy, calling him “Fairhands” for his worn, calloused hands and obvious nobility.

Fairhands took almost no notice to this.

 

A year soon passed, and again the king sat, fresh food laid out in his massive hall, each resident of the castle seated at a long wooden table.

And again, a year after the last one, the massive doors creaked open.

In came a hurried young man, very pale and very tall, with shoulder length hair of the same moonlit color.

He walked quickly past the guards trying to stop him, and moved to kneel before the king.

He was seized, but quickly let go.

“Your highness, there is little time, I humbly entreat you to help my sister.”

The king grunted, surprised the Zoldyck lineage had a daughter.

“And how can I help the son of my least trustworthy vassal help the daughter of my least trustworthy vassal?”

If Killua was at all offended, he did not show it.

“Alluka has been kidnapped by Hisoka of the red lands, and I would beg to send your strongest knight to help in reclaiming her.”

The king thought for a little, stroking his beard.

As he thought, hand tugging on the tuft on his chin, a voice spoke up from the back of the long dining hall.

“Excuse me your highness.”

The king looked up, trying to find the one who’d spoken.

“Excuse me!”

Squinting to see, the king spotted the kitchen boy at the very back of the room.

“You may come forward Fairhands.”

The young man untangled himself from the table and clumsily jogged to kneel before the king.

“Your lordship, if you recall a year ago today, I asked for a further blessing a year from then.”

The king nodded.

“If you would grant it, I would like to take this quest as my own.”

The king continued to think, befuddled by this.

“Ahem… Your absolute royalness, you can’t really be considering sending a cook on a quest as perilous as this.”

The king thought and thought, really quite ponderous today.

“Under other circumstance, I would not, but it’s his boon to do with what he will. Fairhands, should you want it, the quest is yours.”

The young cook looked up in excitement, and the Zoldyck stormed out.

“Ah! Thank you, your-”

“You better go after him.”

Interrupted the king.

“From what I recall, Killua is a skilled and swift rider.”

The young man began to panic and bow and apologize all at once, just before the king commanded him armoured and given a mount.

Riding through the rest of the day, Fairhands could still see no trace of Killua.

Despite the heavy armor being ill fitted for a kitchen boy, it didn’t seem to slow him any.


	2. Chapter 2

Fairhands rode and rode, the day turning darker and darker as he searched for Killua.

Finally, when it was nearly nightfall, he came upon the noble, as he was struggling with a knight in sickly green armor.

"Leave him alone!" Shouted Fairhands from his mount.

The green knight looked up at him, a shouting "This doesn't concern you!"

Fairhands stepped down off his horse and approached the green knight.

"Run idiot cook!" Killua shouted from beside the knight. "If you stay, he will surely kill you!"

"I cannot, I have accepted a quest and will do everything I can to complete it."

The green knight stomped his feet in fury, then ran at fair hands with his weapon drawn.

Fairhands drew out his sword with a mighty swing, cutting though Tonpa's green armor like paper.

But, his skill allowed him to keep from cutting through even and inch of the Green Knight's skin.

The Green Knight toppled backwards, cowering in fear from Fairhands.

"Please spare me sir, I beg you!"

The Green knight plead from the ground.

"I will, if the fair lord wishes it."

At that, Fairhands turned to Killua, waiting for an answer.

Killua thought for a moment before motioning the Knight to stand.

"Go, return to king Netero. Beg him and I am sure he will forgive you for your crimes."

The knight thanked him graciously, then ran back along the road to the castle.

Alone at last, Killua turned to kitchen boy in armor.

"Have you no sense of propriety? "fair lord"? Fair is what you would call a lady."

Fairhands pouted in a way unbecoming of his regal armor.

"I apologize fair Lord." said the kitchen boy.

Killua turned away and scolded him, secretly blushing.

"Classless. Absolutely classless."

Despite their argument, the pair retreated to the Green Knights nearby house and rest for the knight.

Fairhands was awakened by Killua's shouts the next morning, and he quickly rushed out to see what was the matter.

Once he was outside, he found Killua holding the rope that he'd kept his horse tethered with cut.

"The Green Knight must have come back after you sent him away for a horse." Said Fairhands from behind his hands.

Killua was angry at Fairhands for his comment, and angry at himself for letting the Green Knight go, but Fairhands spoke up.

"I think you did the right thing, and you can ride my horse if you wish."

Killua was red as a tomato as he hoisted up onto the horse and thanked him in a whisper.

So caught up in this act of kindness he was, he didn't remember what lies ahead.

"Wait! kitchen boy! Ahead lies the Violet knight Genthru, and you will surely die if you fight him!"

Fairhands simply smiled.

"Then I will die completing my quest.

Killua spoke with a before unseen tenderness.

"and that is sad thing. May I at least know the name of this brave kitchen boy?"

Fairhands thought on this. "I wish not to reveal my name at this time."

Killua only nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

It was a short ride to their next encounter, which was in a canyon a little distance from the green knight’s tree.

Then they came upon the the Violet knight, Genthru, standing plainly in the middle of the road.

As they came into his view he shouted “Halt! I am sworn to kill any knights who pass this way!”

Killua was able to speak before Fairhands was, shouting “Let us pass, this man is simply a kitchen boy passing as a knight.”

Genthru found this amusing.

“And why is this cook posing as a knight passing along such an abandoned road?”

Fairhands was quicker to speak this time “I am here to retrieve the Zoldyck daughter” he said.

“Then I stand in your way.” responded the Violet Knight, and he drew his sword.

Fairhands stepped down from the horse despite Killua’s objections, and drew his own blade.

And there, they clashed, and the fight was hard fought, with Fairhand’s strength proving just the match for Genthru’s terrific speed.

But Genthru soon gained an advantage by kicking dirt into Fairhand’s eyes and attacking him while he was blind.

“What a dirty trick!” Killua shouted from the horse.

Genthru’s strike fell true, and slashed through the thin chainmail of Fairhand’s shoulder.

He shouted in pain, but was soon up again and ready to continue fighting.

“Please, stand back your lordship!” Said Fairhands, spotting him lower himself from the horse.

“I do not wish you to get hurt.”

The lord grudgingly stood his ground as the knights continued to fight.

Soon, Genthru tried his same dirty trick again, but Fairhands was ready this time.

He had noticed Genthru would attack very quickly after blinding him, so he closed his eyes just before the dirt reached him and swung out wildly.

This time, Fairhands had swung blind and struck into Genthru’s chest, but the dishonorable knight would survive.

Again, the colored knight kneeled before them, again Fairhands looked to “the fair lord” for judgement again he was told to return to the castle.

But once the Violet knight had departed, Killua took to the gash along Fairhand’s shoulder, cleaning, then bandaging the wound.

After this was done, and they were ready to depart, Fairhands asked if Killua still thought of him just a kitchen boy.

“Yes” he replied. “That man was obviously dishonorable, and not fit to be called a knight. Besides, you still smell only of grease.”

Fairhands grumbled, but they rode on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was suuper short for pacing reasons.  
> It's kinda hard to explain.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaand  
> Done.

For entirety of the next hour, the Lord Zoldyck berated Fairhands off and on.

Every small mistake was “Inevitable for a kitchen boy”, yet the mysterious knight bore it with quiet dignity.

Slowly, Killua realised that he must truly be a knight of great honor, having never let his frustrations become apparent.

The sheltered lord’s next attempt save the knight he saw as doomed was to talk up his next opponent.  
“Hisoka is supposed to have killed a hundred knights.” He said at some point.

Later, he said things like “The Red knight supposedly rules in place of king, killing all who oppose him.”

To all of these, Fairhands said almost nothing.

Killua slowly became drawn into this mystery, a cook with the poise a disciplined knight.

He spent much time on the ride staring at the tanned knight.

As they reached a river that marked the three quarters on their journey, and rested their mount and sat in the shade.

The knight, steel suit gleaming, had left over to a bush of many out-pouring flowers and plucked one.

“Honeysuckle.” He remarked. “Would you care for some?”

The noble rolled over in the grass to face away from the knight. 

“My father says never take what is given freely.” He said.

“And what do you think?” Inquired the knight.

The noble turned back to him and looked hard.

Nobody had asked him what he thought before.

He stood up and walked over to the knight.

The noble put his lips around the sweetened honeysuckle stems in the knight’s hand, looking at him all the while.

The knight blushed, either from the staring or the first break in propriety since they’d left.

The noble withdrew, saying “Come, we may be able to reach the Red Knight before nightfall.”

“Wait a moment,” Said the knight, a little louder than usual. “For my reward, may I marry whom I choose?”

‘Ah’ Thought the noble to himself ‘you only do this to marry the daughter of a lord’

He turned back to face the knight and said “If it is within my powers, the bride you choose is yours.”

The knight’s eyes shown with intensity at that, and he declared “Then the Red Knight’s days are numbered.”

They rode without stopping until they arrived at the Red Knight’s tower.

 

They arrived with an hour until sunset, but even still, Fairhands shouted up the tower.

“Red Knight, I will fight you to claim the Zoldyck child!”

The Red Knight looked down over the balcony, then jump with a clang.

“OOooooOOhhh, then must fight mustn't we?” He said, drawing his sword.

The fight began immediately, and the combat was brutal but fair.

Each of pair struck back and forth, cutting each other occasionally but neither gaining any ground.

Even still, as the fight progressed, the Red Knight grew more energetic and the Knight of the Kitchen grew wary.

As the hour continued to pass, Killua grew more anxious.

Eventually, he shouted “Don’t you wish to marry Alluka? Fight!”

“No,” He shouted back, parrying Hisoka’s brutal thrust. “I don’t!”

Killua continued to shout, growing red-faced. “Noble not stationed high enough? Who do you wish to marry then?”

Fairhands was immensely concentrated, and had to pause before he could shout “I’m sorry, but I cannot reveal that at this time-”

He’d hardly finished speaking when Hisoka struck a brutal blow just below the heart.

Killua gasped, but Fairhands was already back to his feet, still panting.

“You are right though” He said, between breaths. “To marry him, I must survive!”

Killua’s breath caught and Gon charged back to Hisoka.

 

The King sat, his entire court assembled for special diplomatic ceremony, waiting for some marvel before they could dine.

At his long table, some nobles shuffled impatiently.

Then, a servant looking out the window by chance spotted three figures on three horses.

“Hold fast gentlemen,” He said. “It seems something excellent is coming soon.”

Into the hall rode three figures, the middle figure seeming to lean on the others for support.

The king soon identified them as the Zoldyck heir, and the mysterious kitchen staff.

The kitchen boy, in a full set of borrowed armor still, spoke up.

“I have retrieved the Zoldyck daughter, and claimed young lord Zoldyck promised reward.”

“Which was?” Pondered the king aloud.

“To marry who he chooses.” responded Killua

The king nodded. “And who did you choose?”

Fairhands smiled, then said “Killua Zoldyck.”

There were general sounds of shock from the court, and then quiet as they waited for King Netero to condemn the pair of fools.

Netero shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t allow that. Nobles cannot marry people of unknown birth.”

A foreign lord raised a timid hand from the far end of his table “Well, actually your absolute grace, the idiot in the middle is my son…”

King netero stared over to that lord and the room exploded in disbelief.

Ging Freecs, Earl of Neambo. By all accounts, a brilliant and ambitious lord, and by most reckonings, the heir to the childless king of the next kingdom.

That made the kitchen boy he’d taken in a year ago Gon Freecs, the most formidable knight on this side of the great river.

“Ahem, well that sorts that out. Silva, do they have your blessing?” Asked the king, finally composing himself.

The lord began to speak, but his wife began to shriek.

Netero pitched the woman a chicken bone from a yard and a half away.

Silva Zoldyck looked at the unconscious woman beside him and shrugged. “Yes, the pair of you may have my blessing.”

Apparently no longer injured, Gon leaped off the back of his horse and shouted in joy.

Then he swooped up Killua in his arms and left with the lord on his back.

He didn’t make it far before the lord clubbed him on the back of his head in embarrassment, yelling about tearing out his stitches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, now I've spent hours on this I hate it.
> 
> Please, grammar nerds I need help  
> Dafuq is a comma   
> Spelling nerds to  
> Please for the love of god, I hate having typos.

**Author's Note:**

> ishouldgetatumbler on tumblr  
> Say hi  
> OR don't.


End file.
